Preparedness Quick Tip: You’re Already Storing Water

The good news about water storage is that you probably already have some even if you haven’t personally filled any water storage containers. Today’s quick tip is a couple of places you can find emergency water either indoors or outdoors.

Indoors:

Water heater. Unless you’re using one of those fancy tankless water heaters, your water heater is already storing 40-50 gallons of water as clean as the water from your tap. If the municipal water supply has been contaminated, it’s possible that the water in your heater will not be safe to drink, but in a “normal” disaster, it’s a great source for water.

Toilet tank. Not the bowl. Okay, there is water in the bowl that could be used for something, it’s just not clean enough to drink. Don’t drink the water from the tank if you use an in-tank tablet style toilet cleaner.

Do not drink water from a swimming pool or water bed due to the chemicals that are in them. These water sources could be used for washing or other non-ingesting duties.

Outdoors:

Natural water sources like streams, lakes, and rivers. This water will need purified before being used as drinking water, and could be quite murky depending on the level of disturbance during the disaster.

Wells. Wells can be disturbed during natural disasters like earthquakes, so don’t make a well your only source of stored water. However, if you have access to a well and some way to get the water out (a manual pump would go a long way if there were no power), you’ve got a whole lot of water available to you. Just remember that sometimes wells do not produce drinking quality water to begin with, so it’s best to drink water from wells only if they have been tested safe prior to the disaster, or be prepared to treat any well water you intend to consume.

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Comments

With manual pumps, “a long way” is the key phrase. Our (electric) well pump is at 100 feet. Having a manual pump above that is certainly not a bad idea, but it’s important to know that that’s about 100 feet of pipe required, and about 100 feet you’ll have to lift every ounce of water you pump out.

Storing water is probably the easiest thing to store. Most people consume many 2 liter bottles a month. Clean them out and fill them with water. No bleach needs to be added to this small amount of water. The chlorine in the water is enough. These bottles can be easily stored anywhere. Store them inside closets, under beds and in the basement. Store Store Store away.